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Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council	Share |
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Vampire Diaries on CW

Apparently, today’s teenage audience has a thirst for blood-sucking vampires that is unquenchable.  The Twilight Saga: New Moon will fill the theaters with the screams and sighs of millions of teenage girls, while True Blood titillates a slightly older audience on premium cable.  Now CW’s hit new teen series The Vampires Diaries has the broadcast airwaves covered when fans of the genre want to Nosfera-tune in during prime time.  All this vampire mania is enough to make one wonder if exsanguinations will be covered in the new healthcare bill; but romanticized, stylistic, supernatural violence is still violence.  And the October 29^th episode of The Vampire Diaries (8:00 p.m. ET) was soaked in it, thus earning it the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.

The episode centered on teenage girl Vicki, who has been newly initiated into the tribe of immortal predators by the sinister Damon.  Vicki craves blood.  She cannot control her urge to feed when she encounters her friend, Tyler.  She attacks him and nearly sinks her teeth in before

Stefan (the noble vampire) stops her.  He sequesters Vicki in his home until her transformation is complete.  He hopes that by then, he will have instilled in her the value of not preying upon innocent humans.  Damon, however, appeals to her darker nature.  He encourages her to “snatch, eat, erase [their memories].”

Eventually, Vicki escapes Stefan’s watchful eye and attends a high-school Halloween party to see her boyfriend, Jeremy. Alcohol flows freely and one girl proclaims, “I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with.”  Vicki finds Jeremy and pulls him outside to make out with him.  Her intense kisses soon turn ravenous as she draws blood from his lips.  A close-up shot of her tongue licking the blood from his chin to his mouth is shown.  Vicki sucks on Jeremy’s lips until he screams in pain.  Her fangs exposed, she attacks Jeremy while his sister Elena arrives on the scene.  Vicki tosses Elena through the air as Stefan comes to the rescue.  Vicki manages to escape and take a bite out of Elena’s shoulder.  From behind, Stefan stabs Vicki with a broken wooden plank.  A graphic shot of the bloody weapon is shown piercing through her torso.  She collapses and dies.

The show’s brand of hyper-sexualized violence is not appropriate for the Family Hour.  And given the alarming rise in the victimization of teen-age girls on television (as documented by the PTC’s new study Women in Peril), this show is especially problematic since is caters to exactly that demographic.  Yes, the show is a fantasy.  But the disturbing mix of sex and violence that swirls around the female characters in these vampire franchises may have an effect on how young women see themselves – as vamps, vixens, and unfortunately, all too often as victims.

For gratuitously combining sex and violence, The Vampire Diaries has been named Worst TV Show of the Week